Charmed Goes to the Movies: The Twisted of Oz
by Daicy
Summary: After a San Franciscan earthquake, Piper and little Chris find themselves stuck in a Wizard of Oz style world. Meeting familiar Charmed characters on their journey, Piper and Chris must follow the film through to find their way back home.
1. We're Not In San Fransisco Anymore

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Charmed, or its characters. Nor do I own The Wizard of Oz, or its characters.

**A/N:** I have been debating whether or not this should be marked as a crossover. However, the Charmed Ones and co. never actually meet the Wizard of Oz characters. It is Wizard of Oz in Charmed Style, so start guessing which Wizard of Oz roles the Charmed characters will get. I should also add that this is set post season eight/ultimate battle.

* * *

**Chapter One: We're Not In San Francisco Anymore**

Piper quickly switched off the television as she scrambled for the telephone. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with her hair tied up in a ponytail. Piper kept her eye on Chris, who was sitting lazily on the carpet as he played with a toy truck, while she dialled.

It was almost midday and Piper had been relaxing, looking after Chris, while channel surfing. However, a piece of breaking local news had caught her attention and she had to warn her family.

'Piper? Is that you?' Piper heard Leo's voice through the phone as the ringing died down.

'Yes! Leo! Have you heard the news?' asked Piper.

'The quake warning? Yes. They just announced it over the supermarket's tannoy system,' said Leo.

Leo had gone out grocery shopping with Wyatt that morning and they were still at the supermarket.

'Do you think you can get home safely before the quake occurs?' asked Piper, worried for her husband and eldest child.

'Wyatt and I will be fine,' said Leo reassuringly. 'Focus on keeping Chris safe and I will focus on Wyatt's safety, okay?'

'Okay,' Piper sighed into the phone. She bit her lip, unsure whether to say more, like 'Be safe!' or 'Keep away from loose objects!' but she knew that Leo already knew that stuff.

Piper said goodbye to Leo before hanging up and dialling a different number. Neither Phoebe nor Paige lived at the manor anymore, but Piper wanted to make sure that they knew about the earthquake that was expected to hit San Francisco in twenty minutes.

'Hey Piper. I am a little busy right now. I cannot talk,' was Phoebe's starting sentence before Piper could get a word in edgeways.

'Phoebe!' said Piper. 'Have you not seen the news?'

'As I said, Piper, I am a little busy. I need to get this column finished before my dinner date with Coop tonight,' said Phoebe.

'Wait! If you are at work, you should know! It is a newspaper after all!' said Piper.

'Know? Know what?' asked Phoebe, sounding concerned.

'The…' began Piper before she realised that Phoebe's voice had become really faint. Phoebe had started speaking to someone who had entered her office.

Piper sighed. While she waited for Phoebe to return to the phone, Piper watched Chris who had begun to crawl into the next room. Thankfully Piper was using the cordless phone, so she slowly followed Chris into the dining room. Chris grinned delightedly as he found a toy police car on the floor of the dining room.

Piper stood at the dining room entrance as she watched Chris play with the car.

'Sorry about that, Piper,' said Phoebe, who had evidently returned to her phone. 'Elise came in to tell me that there is an earthquake due to hit in approximately ten minutes. It is good we were on the phone, as now I can warn you about it. So what did you want to talk about?'

Piper rolled her eyes. 'Er… it can wait. Thanks for the warning.' Piper hung up, hoping that Phoebe had not noted the sarcasm in her voice.

Piper put the cordless phone down on the dining room table. She picked Chris up off the floor, so as she could carry him in her arms.

'Paige!' Piper shouted. 'Paige!'

Piper waited a minute or two. Paige did not orb in. Piper sighed. Paige was either with a charge or out to lunch with her husband, Henry. Piper put Chris gently back down onto the floor and dialled a new number.

'Thank goodness you phoned me, Piper,' said Paige hurriedly. 'It was my only excuse to get out of here.'

'What? Paige, what's going on?' asked Piper. 'I called for you a few minutes ago. If you wanted to get out of something, you could have just orbed here.'

'I can't orb out of this one,' said Paige.

'Why not?' asked Piper.

'It is a little too public in the middle of a restaurant on a summer's day,' explained Paige. 'Plus Henry knows me too well. He can tell the difference between me bailing for Charmed or white lighter business and bailing because I am uncomfortable. The phone call meant I could walk away from the table… Postpone the talk for a few extra minutes.'

'What talk? Paige, what has he done to make you uncomfortable?' asked Piper.

There was a slight hesitation. 'I… He… He wants me to open up more,' said Paige.

Piper furrowed her brow. 'Paige, you are married. That should not be difficult. Don't you already know everything about each other? I mean, you love him, so why is it so difficult to open up?'

'Of course I love him, Piper,' said Paige. 'I just… Henry says I shut him out a lot. Do I? Do I do that?'

'Er… Well, Paige, er…' Piper did not want to sound harsh. Piper paused. Chris was crawling out of the dining room into the conservatory. Piper slowly followed Chris. 'Look, Paige, I need to look after Chris. I was just phoning to warn you about an earthquake that is due in five minutes.'

There was a pause before Paige whispered into the phone, 'Is that code for an end of the world demon type attack?'

'No. It is code for: Keep away from falling objects when the ground starts to tremble,' said Piper matter-of-factly.

'Oh right,' said Paige, sounded slightly disappointed. 'Thanks for letting me know.'

'No problem. Have a nice chat with Henry,' said Piper.

'At least I can change the conversation topic now,' said Paige. 'Bye.'

'Bye,' said Piper as she hung up.

Piper suddenly noticed that Chris was no longer in the conservatory. Piper ran into the kitchen. He was not there either. Piper found Chris back in the living room just as the ground began to tremble.

'Chris, come here, sweetie,' said Piper as she froze the lamp that was about to fall towards her.

Chris seemed unfazed by the trembling ground. He decided to crawl out into the foyer.

'Chris!' shouted Piper, worried.

Piper tried running after Chris, but kept getting impeded by falling objects that she had to keep freezing. Amazingly Chris was fine. Nothing dangerous – nor anything at all – was falling his way. Piper finally reached Chris. She fell to the ground as the trembling ground caused her to lose balance. Chris sat on the floor, staring at his mother. He had a look of confusion on his face, probably wondering why his mother was lying on the ground. Piper sat up and was about to pick up Chris when a piece of furniture hit her on the head, knocking her unconscious.

* * *

Slowly Piper sat up, rubbing the back of her throbbing head. The earthquake was over. She did not know how long she had been unconscious for. Piper blew up the Grandfather clock in anger as she assumed it was the piece of furniture that had knocked her out.

Piper looked around the foyer as she stood up. From the foyer she could see into the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen. All of the aforementioned were a mess. Piper sighed. This was going to take some time to clean up.

Then Piper suddenly noticed that the front door was ajar. Piper went pale as she realised who was missing.

'Chris!' shouted Piper. 'Chris!'

Slowly Piper opened the front door fully. Chris smiled and waved at her. He was sitting on the porch step. Piper breathed a sigh of relief. Chris was safe and unharmed. However, the view of the neighbourhood suddenly caught her eye, because… it wasn't her neighbourhood.

Stepping outside onto the porch step, Piper picked up Chris. The manor stood in the middle of a grassy area of land. The horizon was cut off by a forest of trees. There were no other houses. Plus there were leprechauns staring at Piper from their various positions on the grass. What stuck out most was the yellow brick path (or was it a road?) that disappeared into the forest.

'I don't think we're in San Francisco anymore,' Piper muttered. Piper went pale, when she realised that she recognised those words from somewhere. Piper eventually noticed that while she held Chris securely in one of her arms, on the other arm hung a wicker basket – its contents were covered by a small blanket. Then she noticed that she was wearing a blue and white dress. With the hand that was not carrying Chris, Piper reached for her ponytail only to notice that her hair was now done up in two plaits. 'You have got to be kidding me!'

When the leprechauns started yelling 'She killed the witch!' Piper just shook her head in disbelief. Still carrying Chris and the wicker basket, Piper slowly walked down the manor steps. Standing amongst the leprechauns, Piper noticed two legs sticking out from beneath where the manor had landed.

Piper shook her head. 'This has to be a dream. In the film that this seems to be similar to, it was a dream. Therefore, this _must_ be a dream.'

'What are you on about, lass? This isn't a dream, it is really happening,' said one of the leprechauns.

'Fine. Then it must be a spell gone wrong,' said Piper. Then Piper noticed the sparkling ruby high heels. They were on the feet of who she assumed belonged to the Wicked Witch of the East. Placing Chris gently onto the ground, Piper took the shoes off the witch's feet, threw off her own shoes, and put on the sparkling red high heels. 'I know how the film is supposed to end. I might as well skip to the end.' Tapping her feet together, Piper said, 'There is no place like home. There is no place like home. There is no place like home.'

Piper became disgruntled when nothing happened. In anger, Piper tried to take the shoes off, but they would not come off. They were stuck.

Turning to the leprechauns, Piper said, 'Why didn't it work?'

'Mama!' said Chris, pointing behind Piper. Piper looked to see what Chris was pointing at. Blue and white orbs were coalescing to form a figure.

Paige had orbed in. She looked puzzled when she saw Piper standing there, but not as puzzled as Piper was.

'Paige, since when did you become a red head again?' asked Piper.

Paige frowned, becoming a little self conscious of her shoulder length red hair. 'Piper, what are you doing here? Where is Phoebe?'

'Phoebe? Phoebe's at work,' said Piper. 'I think the question is: Where are we?'

'No. I think the question is: Why is the manor here?' said Paige, pointing at the manor in bewilderment.

'I don't quite understand that part either, Paige,' said Piper. Piper wanted to say: _I woke up after an earthquake and Chris, the manor, and I were here, surrounded by leprechauns and apparently in _Wizard of Oz_ attire. If I remember the film correctly, this makes you Glinda the Good Witch, which means you can make these shoes work_. However after not helping Paige with her Henry problems earlier, Piper decided not to rant, but only to say, 'Paige, do you know how to make these shoes work so as I can go home?'

As Piper pointed at her shoes, Paige furrowed her brow. 'Piper, those are Phoebe's shoes!'

'Paige, that is not helpful,' said Piper. 'I think someone has cast some sort of spell and I want out!'

'You think this is a spell? Well, go and talk to the guy with loads of magical answers, even if half of them are 'I told you so' type answers,' said Paige.

'Who?' asked Piper.

'Duh! The one with the access to higher powers: Your husband, Leo,' said Paige.

Piper frowned. Leo had been mortal for almost two years now. He had no access to the Elders. Was Paige suggesting that Leo was the wizard? Oddly, Piper found that she could not remember what happened in the film when Dorothy meets the wizard.

Piper sighed. 'Okay, but do I really have to follow some yellow brick road? Can you not just make these shoes work?'

Paige looked confused. 'Yellow brick road?' Shrugging off the weird comment, Paige added, 'Piper, you can make those shoes work by putting one foot in front of the other.'

Piper frowned. She put one foot in front of the other like Paige suggested. 'It is not working.'

'Well, yeah, you have to repeat that action,' said Paige.

'Okay…' said Piper. She began to put one foot in front of the other. After she had ended up walking a few steps away from Paige, she turned around, flushing with embarrassment. 'You meant walking, didn't you?'

Paige smiled. 'Isn't that what you are supposed to do with shoes?' Before Piper could yell at her baby sister, Paige orbed out.

'Well, I guess I have a husband to find,' sighed Piper, figuring that following the path of the film was her only way out. It was odd though. Although she could remember the part about tapping the heels of the ruby (not slippers in this case) high heels, she could not remember much of the rest of the story that took place after the part she had just acted out.

Chris was already crawling along the yellow brick road. Piper caught up with him and picked him up. She smiled at him.

'We're off to see your father, that wonderful husband of mine, because, because, because, he…' Piper paused and shook her head. 'There is no way I am turning this into a musical!'

Chris giggled.


	2. The Scarecrow

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews. Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Two: The Scarecrow**

Chris was starting to get a little fidgety while being carried and wanted to get loose. To try and keep him amused without letting go of him, Piper began to rock her arms back and forth. They had been walking through a wooded area for a little while now. It was still bright daylight. Piper was just hoping that she would find Leo before darkness fell.

Chris had stopped fidgeting now. He smiled at Piper. Piper smiled back at him, but sighed in annoyance when she realised that the action of rocking him back and forth meant that she was now skipping along the yellow brick road. Piper had hated this spell from the start. Whoever had cast it was going to pay when she got out of it. It was bad enough that she had to be dressed as Dorothy and had to live the film in order to get out, but she did not want to embrace the corniness of the film either. That included the embarrassment of skipping along the yellow brick road _and_ embracing the idea that it was a musical – there was no way that Piper was going to sing. Plus, in this version, the ruby slippers were ruby high heels. Skipping was not an option in high heels.

Chris' expression became grumpy when Piper stopped rocking him back and forth. Piper sighed. 'Fine. You can walk alongside me.'

Chris squealed with joy as Piper placed him on the yellow brick road. He stood on his two feet and attempted to walk properly. Piper smiled proudly at her little boy. He was getting to the age where he would switch between crawling and walking properly, although he could walk perfectly fine. Piper took hold of his hand as the two of them continued to walk along the yellow brick road.

They were beginning to reach a clearing in the woods. The grass in the clearing that they were approaching looked more like cropland. It was as if the yellow brick road was directing them through a farm.

Suddenly Piper saw something in the sky in the distance. There were ten crows circling above them. Suddenly the crows swooped down at something that Piper could not quite see. However, something that did catch Piper's eye was that the crows were breathing fire.

'Demon crows?' gasped Piper in disbelief.

Then Piper heard a scream from up ahead – from whatever the crows had been targeting. Piper let go of Chris' hand and broke into a run, ignoring the difficulty of running in high heels.

* * *

**Before the quake –**

Phoebe put her phone down. She smiled at herself, happy that she could inform Piper of the impending earthquake before it took place.

Phoebe's smile soon vanished when she saw the pile of papers on her desk. She had partially lied to Piper. It was not her column that she was working on. It was paperwork. She had been sent paperwork in the mail about paying back her student loan debts now that she had the wages to cover them. However, Phoebe was finding it tedious to go through. She felt so stupid, almost like she could get some of the answers wrong, which was a silly thing to think, because it was only paperwork.

Phoebe sighed. She picked her pen up to start the paperwork. She had been avoiding it all day.

_The sooner I do this, the sooner I can leave for my dinner date with Coop_, thought Phoebe. That would be her treat for getting through this task.

Phoebe shook her head in distress as she looked at the first question. Well, okay… It was not exactly a question; it was the space to fill out her name. She obviously knew her name was _Phoebe Halliwell_, but if she wrote that down, that would mean she would have to continue with the rest of the daunting paperwork.

There was a knock on her office door. Phoebe looked up from her paperwork to see Elise entering.

'Phoebe, that earthquake is due any minute. You know the drill,' said Elise, before exiting the office.

Phoebe sighed. She was about to leave her office when she realised that she had left all the paperwork loose on her desk. However much she wanted to avoid it, she did not want to come back to her office with paper littering her floor.

Phoebe quickly tried to shuffle the paperwork into one neat pile. She was not fast enough though, because while she was doing this, the ground began to tremble. With the messy pile of papers clutched in her hands, Phoebe ducked underneath her desk. Her chair rolled across the room. Her glasses smashed onto the floor next to her as they fell off her desk. Books came toppling down from her shelf. Phoebe staid huddled under her desk.

After a minute or two the quake had finished. Slowly Phoebe stood up from under her desk. However, there was suddenly some aftershock, which caused a book to fall directly from a high shelf onto Phoebe's head. Phoebe fell to the floor, knocked unconscious.

Phoebe did not open her eyes. Her head was killing her. Someone must have opened a window because she could feel the breeze on her face and she could hear birds, specifically the sound of crows.

_Crows?_ thought Phoebe. _Do we even get crows in San Francisco?_

Phoebe opened her eyes. She was standing in the middle of a farm. Not far from her, to one side, was a golden path of some sort. Other than that, from where she stood, all Phoebe could see was farmland.

Phoebe could hear crows again. They sounded closer this time. Phoebe tried looking upwards, but noticed that she was wearing a big floppy sunhat that was preventing her from looking upwards.

Phoebe attempted to take the hat off, but suddenly noticed that both of her arms were restrained. She was chained to a pole of some sort. That is also when she noticed that she was wearing some sort of patchwork dress.

'What is going on?' Phoebe shouted to no one in particular. 'Is this some sort of trap? Are you demons really that lazy that you would wait until I was knocked unconscious during an earthquake to attack?'

There was no reply.

'Coop! Coop! Paige!' Phoebe tried calling for anyone that would be likely to hear her, but it was useless. Coop did not heart in and Paige did not orb in. Her assumptions that no one could hear her magically or normally were right.

However, once again, Phoebe noticed that the sound of crows had grown louder. She thought she could also hear them whooshing through the air now too. Around ten crows began to fly around her in circles now at eye level.

Phoebe began to breathe nervously. 'Er… Good little birdies… Please go away… Shoo!'

Phoebe gulped when they began to fly faster and faster around her. They suddenly became like one black blur as they flew around her so fast. One of the birds suddenly broke rank, flew up into the air and then back down at her. Phoebe gulped when she saw fire protruding from its beak.

'_Demon_ crows?' Phoebe whispered in shock.

Phoebe managed to duck her head low enough to avoid the flames. However the chains still held her to the pole. She was going to be toast if she did not do something. Suddenly all ten crows stopped circling her and flew upwards. Phoebe could tell that they were still circling her from high above, because she could see their shadows on the ground below her.

Phoebe hurriedly tried to release herself from the chains, but it was no use. The chains may have been rusty, but they were still metal. She needed help.

There was a sudden rush of wind which allowed the brim of her hat to push out of her eye line enough for her to see one of the crows spiralling downwards, directly towards her, breathing fire in her direction. This time there was no way the crow was going to miss her. Phoebe let out an ear piercing scream, closing her eyes.

* * *

**Back to Dorothy –**

Piper was now close enough to see what was going on. There was a woman wearing a big floppy hat and a patchwork dress. She was chained to a pole… like a scarecrow.

_The scarecrow from the film? _Piper thought as that part of the film returned to her memories. _Since when were there demonic crows in the film?_

The woman had her back to Piper, so Piper could not see who it was. However, Piper could tell that the woman was human. Someone had trapped her there to use her as a human scarecrow. Piper had to save her. Piper flicked her hands at the crow that was about to attack the scarecrow. However, nothing happened. The crow did not freeze or blow up. Whatever this world was, Piper's powers were not working.

Piper looked around for anything that she could throw at the crow. Then she remembered her wicker basket and pulled off its blanket cover to find out what was inside. Piper smiled. Inside the wicker basket was a stash of potion vials.

_Now that is useful_, thought Piper as she picked one of the potion vials – a dark green one – and threw it at the demon crow that was attacking the scarecrow woman. The crow fell to the ground, stunned by the potion. Piper smiled. The other demonic crows were now flying towards Piper in anger. Piper kept throwing dark green potion vials at the demonic crows until all of them were stunned. It appeared as if the wicker basket kept restocking itself.

Once all of the demonic crows were on the ground, Piper placed the blanket cover back over the wicker basket. She never thought she would like having a wicker basket, but this one seemed like a good accessory.

Piper turned to see Chris watching her. He was sitting down on the yellow brick road. Piper signalled for him to stay there. Chris nodded an obliging confirmation that he understood not to move. Piper then stepped carefully around the stunned demonic crows as she approached the woman. It looked like the scarecrow woman was still in shock, because her head was looking down at her feet, her floppy hat obscuring her face. Rusty chains were tying her to the pole.

'It is okay,' Piper reassured the scarecrow woman. 'The crows are gone. You are safe. I will get you out of here.'

At the sound of Piper's voice, the woman looked up. The moment that Piper saw the woman's face, Piper dropped the wicker basket.

'Phoebe?'

'Piper?'

Piper dropped to the ground to retrieve the wicker basket and look for a potion. She found a purple vial. _Purple is good. Purple means explosions_, thought Piper, as she remembered one of the many times when they had to use potions due to a loss of powers. Piper opened the vial up. She did not want to blow Phoebe up. She only needed a little of the potion to free Phoebe. Piper stood up and allowed a drop of the potion to fall onto the chain. Immediately there was a cracking sound as the chain broke into two pieces. Phoebe hugged her sister in delight to be free and no longer alone.

'Piper! Do you have any idea what is going on?' asked Phoebe, as she released Piper from the hug.

Piper grimaced. 'I was hoping you could explain things for me.'

Phoebe shook her head. 'One minute I was knocked unconscious during the quake at work. The next minute I was here being attacked by demonic crows. It is like it came directly out of a horror film.'

Piper laughed. 'Try musical.'

Phoebe looked puzzled. 'Musical?'

'Think about it, Phoebe,' said Piper. 'Look at my outfit. Look at that path over there. Look at the situation you were just in – minus the part about the crows that breathe fire.'

There was a brief pause while Phoebe thought over everything that Piper had said. Suddenly Phoebe looked extremely peeved.

'Who is it that seems to think I need a brain?' shouted Phoebe.

Piper rolled her eyes. 'So you understand which film we seem to be in?'

Phoebe folded her arms in anger. 'Someone has a horrible sense of humour. Any idea what demon we are looking at?'

'I don't think it was a demon,' replied Piper. 'They could have easily killed me already if it was a demon. That is why I thought it might have been you. I thought one of your spells had gone awry.'

'Well it definitely wasn't me,' confirmed Phoebe. 'If you don't think this was part of an evil scheme… Do you think it was Paige?'

Piper shrugged. 'I thought it was you until you told me that you had no idea what was going on.'

'So it must have been Paige,' said Phoebe, very quick to accuse her baby sister.

Piper shook her head. 'I have already seen Paige – apparently she is Glinda in this wacky world. She did not seem to have a clue what was going on either. Like how the manor landed on the Wicked Witch of the East.'

Phoebe had a look of disbelief on her face. 'The manor is here too?'

'Yep. The manor is back in that direction,' said Piper, pointing back the way she had come from. 'However, Chris and I are going in the other direction to find Leo. According to Paige, he should have the answers.'

'Chris?' said Phoebe, peering over Piper's shoulder to spot Chris sitting on the yellow brick road. 'If you are supposed to be Dorothy, does that make Chris..?'

'You better not be calling my peanut a pet,' snapped Piper quickly.

'Of course not,' said Phoebe, blushing. Phoebe tried to pull the floppy hat off her head. This attempt was unsuccessful as the hat was stuck. 'I cannot get this off.'

Piper sighed. 'Just like how I cannot get these off,' she said, pointing at the ruby high heels.

Phoebe frowned. 'I recognise those… And I don't mean that I recognise those from the film, because for some reason I have gone blank on what happens next.'

'I think that is part of the spell,' said Piper. 'We have to live it, but with no cheats or spoilers.'

'For some reason, I do remember the heel tapping part,' Phoebe added.

Piper shook her head. 'Me too, but I already tried that and it does not work. We have to carry on.'

Piper was making her way back onto the yellow brick road now. Phoebe followed her.

'So Leo is the all powerful Wizard of Oz then?' asked Phoebe.

'It sounds like it,' said Piper, taking Chris' hand, as they began to walk along the yellow brick road.

'I feel like there is something I am forgetting about the wizard from the film,' mumbled Phoebe.

'Me too,' Piper agreed.

As they continued to walk, Phoebe began to hum the 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road' tune.


	3. The Tin Man

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews. Enjoy the latest chapter.

* * *

**Chapter Three: The Tin Man**

Piper, Phoebe, and Chris had been walking for a little while now. The day was still shining with bright sunlight. Piper was beginning to wonder whether the day would ever end. The path had been directing them through a dense forest for the past hour or so, but the trees were beginning to thin out.

The ground around the yellow brick road was soily earth. There was little to no grass and there were five or six trees around them.

'I wish Leo was still a white lighter. It would be so much easier to call for him rather than go to find him,' moaned Phoebe. 'My feet hurt.'

Piper sighed. 'At least you don't have to walk in high heels.'

'Yes, but I have to wear a big floppy hat _and _a patchwork dress that smells disgusting!' groaned Phoebe.

Piper laughed. 'Are you sure the smell is coming from the dress?'

Phoebe swatted Piper.

'Plus the pockets of my dress are lined with straw,' Phoebe continued to moan as she stuck her hand in her pocket to pull out some straw. 'What is worse is that every time I take the straw out, the pockets seem to magically refill with the stuff.'

Piper had only been half listening to Phoebe's incessant moaning. Piper suddenly stopped walking and held her hand out for Phoebe to stop. Phoebe stopped too.

'Take Chris,' said Piper, picking Chris up and handing him over to Phoebe.

Phoebe took hold of Chris, wondering what had worried Piper. Piper walked a few steps forward, looking around as she did. Piper uncovered her wicker basket and grabbed a potion vial at random so as she could have it in case something attacked.

'You have a basket full of potions?' Phoebe whispered in disbelief. She had been too happy to hear Piper's voice to notice that she had used a potion to free Phoebe earlier. _So not fair. I get straw and she gets potions?_

'Shush, Phoebe,' whispered Piper.

Something ran past them extremely fast. It ran so fast that it was like a blur.

'What was that?' whispered Phoebe, trying to adjust Chris in her arms so as he could not see whatever was happening.

'I don't know,' whispered Piper. 'We have to follow it.'

'No…' said Phoebe, her voice starting to tremble. 'Someone may seem to think I am brainless, but I definitely know that we should stick to the path. We have to continue looking for Leo.'

'If I had not ventured off the path earlier, I would not have found and saved you,' Piper pointed out.

'You're right,' sighed Phoebe. 'Besides I am not the cowardly… the cowardly lion! I remember! We are supposed to meet a cowardly lion at some point!'

Piper shook her head. 'That sounds familiar, but I don't think we are at that part yet.'

'Then which part are we at?' asked Phoebe.

'Let's go in the direction that the blur went in, and we may just find out,' said Piper.

Piper and Phoebe, with Chris, began to walk in the direction that they had seen the blur run in. Soon they reached a clearing. There were five wolves and they were circling a statue. The statue was facing away from Piper and Phoebe, so they could not see who it was. However, both of them had a hunch that the statue was a living, breathing person. Similarly, the two sisters both had a feeling that those were not any ordinary wolves.

* * *

**Before the quake –**

Paige pushed a strand of her long, dark hair behind her ear. The breeze was strong, but the weather was still warm for a hot summer's day. Paige was sitting at a table, which was shaded by an umbrella, on a lunch date with her husband. Henry sat across from her and they were having a great conversation. That was right up to the moment when Henry said this:

'So… Paige… you never seem to talk to me.'

Paige was puzzled by this statement. 'What do you mean? I see and hear us sitting here, and we are definitely talking right now.'

Henry shook his head. 'Our jobs are practically the same. We both have charges that we have to guide and look out for. We know we cannot discuss our charges' situations with one another because of confidentiality. That is fine.'

Paige stared at Henry, slightly perplexed. She was not too sure where this was going, so she waited for Henry to continue.

'If I come home from work in a bad mood because of a case, you make me talk about it,' said Henry.

'That is because you always feel better after talking about it,' said Paige quietly, with a smile of reassurance on her face. However, her smile faded when she realised that Henry had not finished yet.

'Paige, when you come home from either of your jobs after a bad day, you refuse to open up to me,' said Henry.

Paige sighed. 'Is this about the other day? My sisters and I lost an innocent. I was annoyed. I did not want to speak to anyone.'

'Paige, I am your husband. You can open up to me! You shut down _every single time_ it happens – you don't often lose innocents, but you do often have days when you are annoyed with your charges. If I can talk to you when you notice that I am down, you should be able to feel like you can open up to…' Henry trailed off, a look of recognition on his face. 'You act as if you are talking to a charge or an innocent when you comfort me after I have had a bad day of work, don't you?'

Paige tried to avoid eye contact as Henry said this, but that was all Henry needed as confirmation.

'Paige, we need to talk about this,' said Henry. 'This marriage involves both of us.'

Paige sighed and nodded. 'I know.' Henry went to take Paige's hand, but Paige moved her hand away as she heard someone calling her. '_Paige!_' _Is that Piper's voice? 'Paige!' That's definitely Piper._

Henry must have noticed Paige's expression – the one she makes when someone is calling her – because he said, 'You cannot leave our conversation like this, Paige. Please.'

Paige sighed. 'It is only Piper. If it is important, she will phone.'

Henry smiled, but as if on cue, Paige's phone rang. Paige smiled sweetly and said to Henry, 'One second, honey. I promise!'

Putting the phone to her ear, Paige walked away from the table into a quieter corner of the outdoor café.

'Thank goodness you phoned me, Piper,' Paige said into the phone hurriedly as she ducked into the indoor area of the café where there was more shade. 'It was my only excuse to get out of here.'

'What? Paige, what's going on? I called for you a few minutes ago. If you wanted to get out of something, you could have just orbed here,' was Piper's reply.

'I can't orb out of this one,' said Paige. She could see Henry from where she stood. He was sitting at their table. He had his hands to his face, deep in thought. Paige sighed. She hated seeing Henry unhappy.

'Why not?' asked Piper.

'It is a little too public in the middle of a restaurant on a summer's day,' said Paige. 'Plus Henry knows me too well. He can tell the difference between me bailing for Charmed or white lighter business and bailing because I am uncomfortable. The phone call meant I could walk away from the table… Postpone the talk.'

'What talk? Paige, what has he done to make you uncomfortable?' asked Piper.

Paige hesitated. Her heart leapt in terror as she saw Henry stand. _Is he just going to walk away? Am I that terrible a wife?_ Paige's fear subsided when she realised that he had just been stretching his legs, because he immediately sat back down. 'I… He… He wants me to open up more.'

'Paige, you are married. That should not be difficult. Don't you already know everything about each other? I mean, you love him, so why is it so difficult to open up?' said Piper.

'Of course I love him, Piper,' said Paige. 'I just… Henry says I shut him out a lot. Do I? Do I do that?'

'Er… Well, Paige, er…' Piper hesitated. Paige took the hesitation as a sign that Piper agreed with Henry. Paige shook her head silently. 'Look, Paige, I need to look after Chris. I was just phoning to warn you about an earthquake that is due in five minutes.'

Paige frowned. _Why is Piper speaking in code? I am the one who is out in public, not her_. Paige decided to whisper into the phone, 'Is that code for an end of the world demon type attack?'

'No. It is code for: Keep away from falling objects when the ground starts to tremble,' was the reply.

'Oh right,' said Paige, slightly embarrassed by her assumption. 'Thanks for letting me know.'

'No problem. Have a nice chat with Henry,' said Piper.

'At least I can change the conversation topic now,' said Paige, thinking about how the earthquake could delay their conversation for now. 'Bye.'

Paige hung up before she heard Piper say goodbye. Paige put the phone back into her purse and walked back out of the café into the outdoor seating area. Paige smiled as she sat down opposite Henry.

'Anything important?' Henry asked, referring to the phone call.

'Piper has some news,' said Paige. 'Apparently there will be an earthquake in a few minutes.'

'That's nothing new,' said Henry. 'We do live in San Francisco after all.'

Paige shrugged. 'It is always nice to be prepared though.'

'Yeah, well, we kind of have to pay for the meal before we can walk away from the dangerous soon-to-be falling everywhere hot food and pointy cutlery,' said Henry, getting his wallet out.

Paige smiled. She liked how he said _pointy_ inside of _sharp_. It made him seem so much more innocent and less like a gun-carrying parole officer.

A couple of minutes later, Paige and Henry were walking onto the street when the worst possible thing happened:

'You never got a chance to join in properly to our earlier conversation,' said Henry. 'Surely you have an opinion. You wouldn't be the Paige I love without your stubborn attitude… your wilful personality.'

Paige sighed. She was really hoping that the conversation would vanish. _If only the _object of objection_ spell worked on conversations_, thought Paige.

Paige turned to look at Henry. 'You said you love me for my personality, right? Well, then you must know that this is how I am… who I am.'

Henry shook his head and stopped walking. Paige stopped too.

'Paige, are you saying that whenever we have our talks, you will always take on your white lighter persona, as if you are talking to a charge?'

'Where did you get that from? Are you saying that I can only _feel_ love because of my white lighter side?' shrieked Paige.

Henry cleared his throat, hoping Paige's words had not been a threat of magical exposure, but no passers by seemed to have heard her words.

'Of course not,' said Henry. 'What I was referring to is how you treat me the way you would treat a charge when you have to make them open up.'

'How has this gone from being about me not wanting to open up to how I help you out of a bad mood?' asked Paige angrily.

'_How_? _How_? Paige! Were you not listening to our conversation earlier? Were you even in it? If I can open up to you, then why can you not open up to me?' asked Henry.

'And where did my frigging job come into this?' shouted Paige, asking questions to avoid answering them.

'Just think about it, Paige! You are closed off, because you think of me as a charge!' shouted Henry.

Paige shook her head in anger. 'No way! Who would even think that? You were never my charge! Besides white lighters would never fall in love with their charge, let alone marry them!'

Henry chuckled at Paige's statement. 'Have you not met your sister and brother-in-law? Or let's go even deeper: Your birth parents?'

'You know what I meant, Henry! You know that I love you for who you are!' said Paige.

'I know you do,' said Henry. 'However, you seem to act as if we cannot talk to one another unless you are in white lighter mode.'

'Oh! I have modes now? _Modes_?' shrieked Paige.

Their argument was quickly interrupted as the ground began to tremble. Henry took hold of Paige's hand to ensure that both of them kept balance. As they were on a street – and not close to the trees – there was not much that could fall on them, considering the quake was not too bad.

Once the quake had finished, Paige looked around the street. Henry followed her. They both knew that they had to put aside their argument while they made sure that no one had gotten hurt.

Paige and Henry walked down the street hand in hand. Paige was walking at a faster pace than Henry. Therefore she could not see him. Paige suddenly could not feel his hand on hers anymore. She stopped walking and turned around to ask where he had gone, just to notice that Henry was still holding her hand.

_That's odd_, thought Paige.

Henry noticed Paige frowning. 'What? Was our argument that bad that you don't want to hold hands?' Henry asked.

Paige did not answer. She did not even fill him release his hand from hers. Then Paige realised that she felt like she was floating. She looked down. Both her feet were planted firmly on the ground… but she could not feel them.

'Paige? Are you okay?' Henry looked worried. His voice sounded faint.

Paige tried to speak, but no sound came out of her mouth. She could not tell whether it was because her throat had clammed up or because her mouth was not moving. She felt disconnected from her body…

The world around Paige dematerialised. It was like she had orbed, except she had not. She had not moved. The land that materialised around Paige was woodland. The ground beneath her was soily earth and there were five or six trees scattered around. Within sight was a shed.

Paige tried to walk forward towards the shed, especially when she heard growling from behind her. However she could not move. Paige tried to turn around to see what was making the growling sound, but she still found herself unable to move. She did not have to turn around though, because what appeared to be a wolf was beginning to circle her now – the source of the growling. A second wolf soon joined in with circling her, followed by a third and a fourth. Suddenly there was a fifth wolf.

Paige wanted to orb, to run, to shout, to kick at them, to do anything, but she could not. Paige could not even feel her heart beat quicken in terror. She could not feel her breathing rate increase in fear. It was like she was a statue… an easy target for the wolves.

Each of the wolves stopped circling. Paige could only see the one that was immediately in front of her, but she was sure the others still surrounded her too. The wolf she could see stood on its hind legs. The claws on its front paws grew in length. Paige would bet anything that those claws were poisonous to the touch. If she could gulp in panic, she would have, but she was still unable to move.

* * *

**Back to Dorothy –**

'Are my eyes deceiving me, Pheebs?' Piper whispered to Phoebe. They had concealed themselves behind a tree.

They had witnessed the five wolves stop and stand on their hind legs.

'Do you think their claws are poisonous?' asked Phoebe.

'Well, we had fire breathing demonic crows,' whispered Piper. 'So, yeah, I assume so. You stay here with Chris.'

'Wait!' hissed Phoebe, putting Chris down on the ground. 'I am helping you! Chris will be safe here.'

'What if more wolves come? They may go for Chris,' Piper pointed out.

'Piper, you cannot leave me to one side,' said Phoebe.

'Pheebs, you can help with the cowardly lion,' said Piper. 'I am sure that the statue would not mind looking after Chris.'

Phoebe sighed in defeat. 'Fine.'

While Phoebe watched from behind the tree with Chris, Piper approached the statue and the demonic wolves. Piper slowly stuck her hand into the wicker basket and, without looking, brought out a red potion vial. Piper hurled the potion vial at the statue's feet, hoping that the potion would not harm the statue.

A puff of smoke erupted obscuring the statue and the demonic wolves from Piper's view. When the smoke cleared, the wolves had all disappeared, but the statue still stood there. Piper smiled. It looked like the wicker basket potions worked according to Piper's thoughts. _Why can't I have something like this at home? It would save on having to brew up potions_.

Piper slowly approached the statue. Piper stopped when she heard feet shuffling behind her. She turned to see Phoebe and Chris following her.

'Phoebe!' snapped Piper. 'I told you to stay over there!'

Phoebe shrugged. 'The demonic wolves are gone. I say it is safe for Chris.'

'You may be his aunt, but I am his mother. I say it is not safe,' said Piper.

'Fine, then you take your son,' said Phoebe. With those words, Phoebe ran ahead of Piper.

Phoebe's jaw dropped when she saw the statue's face. Piper picked Chris up and went to stand next to Phoebe. Piper's eyes widened in shock when she saw who the statue was.

'I… I thought you said that Paige was Glinda,' said Phoebe, not able to take her eyes off her frozen baby sister.

'I did tell you that the Glinda Paige seemed a little strange,' said Piper. 'Maybe Glinda Paige was just part of the story like the leprechauns and the demonic animals.'

'You mean that this Paige…_ our_ Paige is the tin man?' asked Phoebe.

'You mean tin woman,' corrected Piper.


	4. Short Straw

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews! Please keep reading and reviewing!

* * *

**Chapter Four: Short Straw**

Piper and Phoebe, with Chris, stood staring at their frozen baby sister.

'So we keep remembering the correct parts of the film when we get to that section, right?' said Phoebe.

Piper nodded, not taking her eyes away from Paige.

'The point is that I am suddenly remembering about the tin man and how they unfreeze him in the film,' continued Phoebe.

'The tin man in the film wasn't frozen, he was…' Piper trailed off.

'Exactly. You seem to be remembering this part now too,' said Phoebe. Phoebe looked around and noticed a nearby shed. 'They used oil to get him moving again.'

Phoebe made her way towards the shed, but stopped when she noticed that Piper was not following.

'Pheebs, Paige is not made of tin. She is a living, breathing person… Just in the same way that you are the scarecrow, but you are still flesh and blood,' said Piper. 'I don't think oil will unfreeze her.'

Phoebe sighed. 'Piper, the shed would not be there if there was nothing in there that would help.'

Piper gave in. Finally taking her eyes off her baby sister, Piper followed Phoebe into the shed.

'We are lucky it was not locked,' said Phoebe as she began to rummage through the items in the shed.

'Which means it could be a trap,' Piper pointed out as she kept look out by the door of the shed. They had to make sure that no more demons tried to attack Paige while she was so vulnerable and defenceless.

Phoebe was digging deeper into the pile of garden tools in the shed. Suddenly Phoebe laughed in triumph as she picked up a can of oil.

'Phoebe! I told you! She is not tin! That won't do anything!' hissed Piper.

Phoebe walked past Piper out of the shed.

'It is worth a try, Piper,' said Phoebe. 'We may as well try.'

Piper sighed. Phoebe was obviously not going to listen. Piper watched as Phoebe stuck her hand into the can. When she pulled her oil covered hand out of the can, Phoebe flicked some of the oil at Paige.

'Wait for it…' said Phoebe, holding a hand up to Piper from blurting out that nothing had happened.

'How long do I have to… How did you say it? _Wait for it_?' asked Piper sarcastically after nothing had happened for five whole minutes.

Phoebe sighed. 'Well it worked in the film.'

'Yes, but there were not demonic animals or Charmed Ones or little boys in substitute of dogs in the film either, Pheebs,' said Piper. 'Nor was there a basket of po…' Piper sighed. She had forgotten about her wicker basket so easily. Piper pulled the blanket cover from her wicker basket only to notice that the basket was now empty. 'What?'

'What?' asked Phoebe, who had now dropped the tin can onto the floor.

'My wicker basket. My source of cool potions. It's empty,' said Piper in disbelief.

'This is what I know about films: If the writer thinks that something is becoming a bit of an easy get out clause, they will remove it,' said Phoebe. 'Your basket of potions was too much of a cop-out. The potions had to disappear.'

Piper sighed. 'So what now? We cannot leave her like this.'

'Have you tried to unfreeze her with your freezing power?' asked Phoebe.

'Number one: My freezing power does not work on good witches. Number two: I don't have my powers here,' said Piper.

'You don't?' Phoebe said, surprised.

'Why do you think I was relying so heavily on my wonderful wicker basket of potions?' said Piper.

Phoebe sighed. She automatically stuck her hands in her pockets. Phoebe groaned in annoyance when she suddenly realised how sticky the hand she had soaked in oil had become, because when she pulled her hand out of her pocket, straw was sticking to it.

Piper laughed. 'Do you really want to be a scarecrow that much, Pheebs?'

Phoebe tried to rub the sticky straw off onto Piper's shoulder. Piper tried to move away from Phoebe in an attempt to not get covered in oily straw. However, Phoebe was not going to let Piper get away.

Phoebe chased Piper, who was running in a circle around Paige. Piper was still cradling Chris in her arms as she did this. Chris reached out and grabbed hold of his frozen auntie. As Piper was holding Chris, his attachment to his aunt caused Piper to come to a halt. Therefore Phoebe crashed into Piper as Phoebe had not realised Piper had stopped running. Piper let go of Chris, who happily clung to Paige's shoulder to stop himself from falling. Meanwhile Piper and Phoebe tumbled to the dirty floor.

Piper stood up, picking some of the straw off herself. As she did this, Piper noticed something about the straw.

'Pheebs…' said Piper, picking at a piece of straw.

'What?' asked Phoebe.

'Take a piece of straw,' said Piper, still fumbling at the piece in her hands.

Puzzled, Phoebe did as Piper asked.

'Do you notice anything about it?' asked Piper.

Phoebe shrugged. 'It is a piece of straw.'

Piper shook her head. She suddenly managed to unravel the straw. That is when it became evident that the straw was not straw. It was…

'Oh my gosh… Is that..?' asked Phoebe.

Piper nodded. 'A page from the Book of Shadows.'

'You mean to tell me that my pockets are full of pages from the Book of Shadows?' asked Phoebe.

Once again, Piper nodded. Piper looked at the spell that was on the particular piece of straw she had unravelled. Phoebe glanced over Piper's shoulder.

'Is that chance or what?' said Phoebe, reading the page.

Piper shook her head. 'When I had the potions, they became whatever I needed them to be. I think your straw Book of Shadows pages are a similar deal.'

Phoebe screwed up her face. 'Does this mean it will disappear later too?'

'Probably, which is why you should recite the spell _now_,' said Piper, passing Phoebe the piece of paper.

'Why me? You found it,' said Phoebe.

Piper smiled. 'You drew the short straw. That's why.'

'I think the corniness of this film is rubbing off on you, Piper, because that was a _bad_ joke,' said Phoebe.

'Which is another reason to hurry up, Pheebs,' said Piper. 'I actually prefer there being demons here. The place is too perky without them.'

Piper took Chris into her arms again. Chris tried to get to the ground, so Piper gently put him down so as he could stand on his own two feet.

Phoebe nodded and recited the spell: '_Our time is thin, help one whose heart is of tin. On our quest we can no longer deter, allow movement to consume her_.'

As Phoebe finished reciting, both she and Piper looked at Paige with bated breath. Paige suddenly collapsed onto the floor. Piper and Phoebe both knelt down to help Paige up. They could see that she was conscious. Piper and Phoebe helped Paige to her feet. Paige stared at her two sisters in shock.

'What's going on?' asked Paige, a little hysterically.

'It's okay, Paige. We saved you,' began Phoebe.

Piper and Phoebe helped to support Paige as she stood up. She seemed to be finding it difficult to stay on her feet.

'There were wolves,' Piper continued for Phoebe.

'No. I know what happened. I may have been unable to move, but I saw and heard every word of it,' said Paige. She looked extremely freaked out.

'Paige, it's okay,' said Piper. 'We are here.'

'We have been through worse than this,' said Phoebe.

'According to your demeanour, I guess you did not cast the spell that put us here either,' added Piper.

'Which means this is evil at work and not a spell gone awry,' concluded Phoebe.

'Yes, but _what's going on_?' Paige almost shrieked, still unable to keep standing without her sisters' support.

'Paige… You said you knew what had happened…' said Piper. 'Oh. I guess you don't know the fact that we seem to be stuck in a _Wizard of Oz_ world where I am Dorothy, Phoebe is the scarecrow, you are the tin woman, and Chris is… Well, let's stop there, because I am not calling him that.'

'Toto the dog,' Phoebe hid in a cough.

Piper made a face at Phoebe. Phoebe laughed.

'I can cope with all of that,' said Paige. 'What I cannot cope with is the fact that I cannot feel a thing and you two don't seem to have noticed!'

Piper and Phoebe suddenly realised that although they were gripping onto Paige's arms, she was not holding onto them. The fact that she could not stay standing up was because she had no feeling over her legs. The reason that she was not looking at either of her sisters, but was staring ahead was because she was not too sure whether she could move her head.

'Paige…' said Piper worriedly.

'She is the tin man…' sighed Phoebe. 'Piper, you got Dorothy's costume and the d– companion, oh and I assume you also had the crashing manor. I got the scarecrow outfit and the terrifying position of standing in the middle of a farm. Have you not noticed that Paige is wearing an outfit I have seen her wear millions of times before? This world did not change her outfit. Instead it changed her. Although she is still fresh and blood – just like I am not made out of straw – she is like a robot… like a tin man… She cannot feel.'

'The tin man had no emotions,' pointed out Piper. 'He had no heart.'

'I am not saying that Paige has no heart, because I also know that I have a brain. What I am saying is that you cannot take someone's emotions away magically, but you can take away their ability to touch, and hence that is how this world has affected Paige… our tin man,' explained Phoebe.

'Tell me again how you were given the role of the scarecrow?' laughed Piper. 'I doubt I could have figured all that out.'

Phoebe shrugged, smiling at the compliment Piper had just given her.

'Would you stop calling me a tin man and help me?' moaned Paige. 'I don't like this one little bit. I want to be back with Henry. I would rather carry on our argument than this!'

'You were arguing?' asked Phoebe, surprised.

'About me not opening up,' explained Paige. Tears were rolling down her face, but she could not feel them. 'I guess me getting the role of the tin man justifies the fact that I am heartless.'

'No! Don't say that, Paige!' said Piper. 'You have a heart. You just find it hard to let people in. Henry didn't say you were heartless, did he?'

'Of course not!' said Paige. 'I just… When I saw his face, I could see the pain I was causing him, but even though I knew I was causing it, I still refused to talk to him about… me…'

'Paige, you have a heart,' confirmed Phoebe. 'We know that. You know that.'

Paige let out a faint chuckle. 'Pheebs, you are only saying that, because you don't want to admit you are brainless.'

'Are you implying something there?' asked Phoebe, laughing, knowing that her baby sister was joking around.

'Well, you sure aren't brainless, Pheebs, and you sure aren't heartless, Paige, but I sure do want to get home,' said Piper.

'We need to get back to the yellow brick road and find Leo,' said Phoebe.

'Find Leo?' asked Paige. 'He is here too?'

'Your doppelganger was the one who sent me looking for him,' Piper said to Paige. 'Know anything about her?'

'I have a doppelganger?' said Paige quizzically.

'Your question answered my question,' laughed Piper. 'Okay, Paige. We need you to walk.'

'I don't know if I can, Piper,' said Paige.

Piper took Paige's left hand and squeezed it.

'Can you feel this?' Piper asked.

'No,' said Paige croakily.

Piper looked over at Phoebe. 'Phoebe, do you have another spell that could help?'

'I don't know…' said Phoebe.

Phoebe began to unravel any bit of straw that she found. She kept shoving them back in her pockets when she realised the spell was no help.

'Piper! I thought you said these spells would work like your potions and be exactly what I need them to be!' moaned Phoebe.

'Apparently it's not that easy,' sighed Piper.

'Phoebe, give up,' said Paige. 'It is pointless. Go on without me.'

'They did not leave the tin man behind in the film,' said Phoebe.

'Tin woman, in this case,' quipped Piper. 'Paige, you are our sister. We will never leave you behind.'

Tears were rolling down Paige's face again, but she still had not noticed.

'Aunt Paige…' said Chris, hugging Paige's leg.

Paige let out a laugh amongst her sobs. 'Chris probably thinks this is some sort of fun adventure. The first one he gets to have without Wyatt to bother him.'

'Oh my gosh! Wyatt! I never thought – I hope he is still with Leo!' said Piper, appalled that she had forgotten about her eldest son.

'Piper, relax. I think wherever we are made you forget about him, just like how we only remember parts of the story when we need to,' said Phoebe.

'We remembered the cowardly lion though, Pheebs, and we have not met him yet,' said Piper.

'You are right. Who do you think he is? He must be someone we know too,' said Phoebe. Then she added, 'Or the lion may be a her…'

'Who though? We have run out of sist… ers… You don't think…' began Piper.

Phoebe shook her head. 'Don't even get your hopes up. She is dead. I don't want you to get your hopes up just to have them come crashing down when it is not her.'

'Besides from what you two have told me about her, Prue would never let someone call her a coward,' said Paige respectfully.

Suddenly demons shimmered in around the three Charmed Ones and Chris.

'What? Did you run out of demonic animals already?' was Piper's greeting to the demons surrounding them.

'At least this is what we are more used to,' said Phoebe, going into a fighting stance.

'You may be used to hand to hand combat, but I am not!' said Piper, pushing Paige to the ground as she dodged a fireball.

'It's okay,' said Phoebe. 'I have got this!'

'Phoebe! You are wearing patchwork clothing that is filled with straw! You are practically as flammable as a real scarecrow!' shouted Piper.

'The demons did not need to know that!' yelled Phoebe.

Phoebe began dodging fireballs as she began to fight the demons. Piper checked her wicker basket for potions. It was still empty. In this brief moment of letting her guard down, Piper was knocked out by a fireball. Paige watched from the ground as Phoebe was caught off guard by a demon and knocked to the ground. Chris cowered behind Paige. The demons had their eyes on the two of them as they were the only conscious ones left.

_I cannot let them get you, Chris_, thought Paige. _I have to stand up! I have to!_

The determination in Paige allowed her to get to her feet. She could not feel a thing, but somehow she was managing to move. As she stood up, Paige picked up the can of oil which Phoebe had found earlier. She could not feel the coldness of the tin can in her hands, but she knew it was there. It felt like she was detached from her body, but she could still control it.

Paige chucked oil over the demons that surrounded her and Chris. The demons sneered. Oil was not exactly going to kill them or slow them down. As fireballs formed in each of the demons' hands, each demon caught alight, bursting into flame.

Paige smiled. _Silly demons. Oil is flammable_.

Chris was looking up at Paige, fear in his eyes. Paige followed his line of sight and almost jumped in shock. Her sleeve was on fire, but she had not noticed. Automatically, Paige began patting the fire out with her other hand. Soon the fire was out. The sleeve on her left arm was non existent and her left arm looked badly burnt. Her right hand which she had used to snuff out the fire was also blistering a little.

'Damn,' said Paige, unsure whether she should be pleased that she could not feel the pain or worried about the damage she had done.

Piper and Phoebe slowly came back to consciousness. Piper noticed that Paige was on her feet. Slowly Piper stood up, helping Phoebe up at the same time.

'Paige… Where did the demons go?' asked Piper. Her eyes widened as she surveyed Paige. 'Your arm! Your hand! They're –'

'Paige, you are standing by yourself!' said Phoebe happily.

'Piper, the demons are vanquished. Yes, I know I am injured, but I cannot feel a thing. Honestly, I am fine to such an extent as that. Phoebe, I noticed,' said Paige, smiling at her two sisters. 'We have a Leo to find. Now where's this yellow brick road that you mentioned?'

'Follow us,' said Piper, picking up Chris.

Phoebe and Paige followed Piper. When they had made it back to the yellow brick road, Paige laughed.

'What?' asked Phoebe.

'This is too strange,' said Paige. 'After all we have been through… This is even stranger than when we faced the evil witch from the fairytales.'

'If I remember correctly, you did not have to face her,' said Piper. 'You were sleeping.'

'Under a spell!' corrected Paige. 'Technically I was dead, not sleeping.'

'Can we focus? We have to find Leo,' said Phoebe. 'You know, Leo, the Wizard of Oz?'

Piper shook her head. 'Remember how we keep talking about the cowardly lion?'

Phoebe sighed. 'Do we have to? He will only slow us down.'

'We have to follow this through, remember?' said Piper.

'Lead the way, Dorothy,' said Paige, grinning.

'Don't ever call me that,' snapped Piper as she began to walk.

Phoebe and Paige shared a snigger.

'I don't think we can ever stop calling her that again,' Phoebe whispered to Paige.

As the two younger sisters followed the eldest and Chris, Paige decided to whistle 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road', only to get a 'Phoebe has already terrorised me with that song between finding her and you! Please don't start too!' from Piper.


	5. The Cowardly Lion

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews. Please continue reading and reviewing!

* * *

**Chapter Five: The Cowardly Lion**

'Will this day never end?' Piper moaned looking up at the sky as she, Phoebe, and Paige, with Chris, continued to follow the yellow brick road.

'I thought you would prefer walking in the daylight rather than in the darkness,' Phoebe pointed out.

'Yes, but it is far too bright here,' moaned Piper.

'Trust me, you would be moaning if it was dark too,' said Phoebe.

'You know me too well,' said Piper.

Piper and Phoebe came to a halt when they noticed that Paige was no longer walking.

'Is everything okay, Paige?' asked Phoebe.

Paige was looking off into the distance. They were in a grassy area now. There were no trees within sight.

'Can't you hear it?' asked Paige.

'Hear what?' asked Piper.

'It sounds like someone is running. They need help,' said Paige.

'White lighter instincts?' asked Piper.

Paige shook her head. 'I don't know. None of us have our powers here. Maybe my loss of one sense has heightened my other senses…'

'Such as hearing?' said Piper.

Paige nodded. She was still looking into the far distance. Piper and Phoebe joined her, standing either side of her, trying to see if they could hear or see anything.

Suddenly a person was visible far away on the horizon. Something was chasing them.

'We should help them,' said Piper.

Phoebe and Paige nodded.

'Not you,' Phoebe said to Paige. 'You have to stay here and look after Chris.'

'Excuse me?' said Paige in disbelief.

'You have to look after Chris,' repeated Phoebe, grinning. 'Doesn't she, Piper?'

'Huh? Pheebs, why can't you?' asked Piper.

'We agreed earlier that the next time someone had to stay behind with Chris it would be the statue and the statue turned out to be Paige,' recounted Phoebe.

'Hey!' said Paige. 'Whether you made a deal like that or not, I protected Chris while you two were knocked unconscious, which means I already took my turn!'

'No! That does not count!' said Phoebe.

'Yes, I think it does! And I think Piper would agree, because I saved her son from the demons,' said Paige.

'Piper!' said Phoebe, annoyed. 'Piper should stay behind then! It's her turn then!'

'No! No! No! I need to help that innocent!' said Piper, pointing in the direction that the innocent was approaching from.

'The innocent is more important than Chris?' asked Phoebe.

'Of course not, which is why one of you two needs to stay behind and protect him!' said Piper.

'Why, Piper? You have no way of attacking the demon without those potions which, I might add, are gone!' said Phoebe.

'Exactly,' said Piper. 'I also have no way to protect my son!'

Phoebe and Paige did not reply. Piper looked like she was wracked with shame.

'Piper? Do you feel that way normally?' asked Paige.

'Leo found it so easy to bond with both Wyatt and Chris so fast,' said Piper, tearing up. 'I hardly get any mother-son bonding time with just Chris, because I am usually looking after Wyatt too. That is why Leo took Wyatt grocery shopping with him… So as I could spend time with my little peanut.'

'Piper, you are a wonderful mother,' said Phoebe. 'He may have been inadvertently brought along for the ride in this strange evil plan to capture the Charmed Ones, but we are all here for him, and whether you have your powers or not, you are the one who can keep him safest.'

Piper shook her head. 'Phoebe, where was I when Paige had to protect him from a group of demons? I was unconscious! If Paige had not have been there…'

'Piper, don't do this to yourself… You are a great mother. You don't need us to protect him for you, because you can trust in yourself that you can do this,' said Paige.

Phoebe looked at Paige.

'What?' asked Paige, noticing Phoebe's quizzical expression.

'You,' said Phoebe. 'You have been placed in the role of the tin man, but you seem to be able to talk to people so naturally… Why is it that you are finding it so difficult to open up?'

Paige's eyes widened in realisation. 'Henry was right. I can only do this one way.'

'One way?' said Piper.

'I can help comfort people, because it is what I do on a day to day basis. Even before I was a white lighter, I was an assistant social worker. He's right. I am treating him like a charge!' Paige turned away from her sisters sheepishly.

Piper was about to say something to Paige when they noticed the innocent from earlier collapse onto the yellow brick road. The three sisters looked up to see the demon running towards the man. However as soon as the demon passed from the grass onto the yellow brick road, he turned to ash.

'The yellow brick road is protected from evil?' said Phoebe, raising an eyebrow. 'That would have been handy to know earlier.'

Piper and Paige agreed.

The three sisters turned their sights to the collapsed figure on the ground. Chris was poking the man. The man was lying on his front. Therefore they could only see his back. His dark messy hair was like a mane. He wore a loose tan coloured jumper, brown trousers, and sandals.

'Does anyone else think this is our cowardly lion?' Piper asked.

'He can't be. He is human,' said Paige.

'Yeah, but I am not an actual scarecrow and you are not made out of tin, Paige,' Phoebe pointed out.

'Good point, but… Piper is dressed as Dorothy, you have a scarecrow's outfit, and I cannot feel anything… So I kind of expected something about him to be lion-like. Like maybe a tail…' said Paige.

Phoebe laughed. Meanwhile Piper had gotten down onto her knees to turn the man onto his back so as they could identify him. Piper jumped back in shock when she recognised the man. Chris smiled in recognition.

'Er, Phoebe …' said Paige, looking down at the man.

Phoebe suddenly turned to look at the man and almost lost her balance when she identified him.

'Coop? What are you doing here?' squeaked Phoebe.

Coop opened his eyes. Chuckling, he said, 'Nice to see you too.'

Piper and Phoebe helped Coop to his feet. Coop brushed the dirt off his clothes, which was when he noticed his clothes.

'I was not wearing this before,' said Coop, puzzled.

'At least you are not in a lion costume,' commented Paige.

'Lion… costume..?' mumbled Coop, extremely lost in the conversation.

'You really do not know what is going on here, do you?' said Piper.

Coop shook his head. Phoebe was finding her boyfriend's confusion extremely adorable. Therefore she grabbed his shoulders so as she could reach his face and they shared a kiss.

Piper cleared her throat to break up the embrace as it was becoming particularly awkward for Piper, Paige, and Chris to witness. Phoebe and Coop released one another before turning to face Piper.

'What happened, Coop?' asked Piper. 'Who was that you were running from?'

'I… I don't know…' said Coop. 'One moment I was in Paris doing my job as a cupid, and the next moment I found myself here being chased by a demon…'

'Hmm… I bet it happened just after the quake too,' said Phoebe.

'I would not be able to tell, because I was not in San Francisco,' said Coop. Coop looked from Piper to Phoebe to Paige, and added, 'Is someone going to explain these outfits? Paige is the only normally dressed person.'

Piper sighed. 'It is a long story…'

'Oh come on, Piper. The film is not that long,' laughed Phoebe.

Piper glared at Phoebe. 'You know that is not what I meant.'

'Film..? What film?' asked Coop, still incredibly baffled.

'Look down and you will know,' said Paige.

Coop looked down. His eyes widened in shock as he realised that he was standing on the yellow brick road. Piper, Phoebe, and Paige nodded simultaneously.

'How?' asked Coop faintly.

'We don't know,' said Piper.

Coop looked back at the three sisters. 'Piper… You are Dorothy?' Piper nodded. 'Phoebe… You are dressed like the scarecrow, but I would never call you brainless…' Phoebe hugged Coop for not jumping to such a conclusion. 'And if the three of you said something about me being the lion… but I am not scared…' Coop looked at Paige next. 'Paige, that leaves you as the tin man – sorry, tin woman.'

Paige sighed and asked quietly, 'Coop, you are a cupid… Do you think I am heartless?'

There was a long pause. Paige stared at Coop, waiting for an answer, while Piper and Phoebe waited for someone to say something to break the tension. The addition of Coop to the group had already brought many awkward moments.

'Your silence says it all…' said Paige, looking away from Coop and similarly avoiding eye contact with her sisters.

Paige began to continue along the yellow brick road. Piper shook her head silently at Coop for refusing to answer Paige, before taking Chris' hand and following her baby sister. Phoebe took Coop's hand and they slowly began to follow.

'Coop, why did you not answer?' Phoebe whispered to Coop.

Coop sighed. 'I don't know her well enough to give her advice. I hardly know Paige. I hardly know Henry. In fact, the only time I got involved in helping the two of them out, I was too preoccupied with trying to get your attention to help her.'

'You are talking about the putting Paige into Henry's head incident, aren't you?' said Phoebe.

Coop nodded. 'And although I can normally sense things about people, I can't right now. It is weird… I cannot seem to access any of my powers.'

'We are all having that problem,' said Phoebe. 'And by the way, you could have just reassured her anyway.'

With those words, Phoebe walked a few paces ahead to catch up with her sisters and Chris, leaving Coop to follow behind them by himself. Phoebe had wandered into the middle of a conversation between Piper and Paige. Piper was saying:

'So Coop must be the cowardly lion… And if I am remembering correctly, the cowardly lion is the last friend that Dorothy makes on the journey… but what is Coop so afraid of?'

'Wait! Now you are suggesting that I am heartless again! _And_ that Phoebe is brainless,' said Paige.

'No, I am not,' said Piper. 'I think we have been put into these roles, because they fit us slightly. Paige, you are worried about opening up to Henry… You are _not_ heartless…' Piper turned to notice that Phoebe was walking next to her now. 'Phoebe, you… Help me out here, Pheebs…'

'I may have been feeling not very smart recently due to having trouble with paperwork at work,' said Phoebe, blushing.

'Paperwork? You get paperwork?' said Paige, raising an eyebrow.

Phoebe nodded. 'Don't ask.'

'Okay, so that's your small issue,' said Piper.

'And you? What is the small issue that makes you Dorothy?' added Paige.

'Well, Dorothy just wanted to go home, and I can firmly admit that I don't want to be in this fantasy world. All I want is to go home!' said Piper smugly.

Piper began to quicken her pace slightly. Phoebe and Paige fell back a little and exchanged glances.

'There is more to it, isn't there?' Paige asked Phoebe, quiet enough for only Phoebe to hear.

'If we have small issues to work out, Piper must have been made Dorothy for more than just wanting to go home, considering she was home before she was sent here,' said Phoebe.

Phoebe decided to quicken her pace so as she could catch back up with Piper. Paige decided not to speed up. She kept walking at the same speed as before. Coop caught up with Paige, and Paige suddenly regretted not rejoining Piper and Phoebe.

As the two of them continued to walk, side by side, Coop turned to Paige. 'Look, Paige, I am sorry. I was not thinking when I refused to answer,' said Coop. 'Of course you have a heart. The reason why I did not answer before was because… I have a lot on my mind.'

Paige shook her head. 'That is the oldest excuse in the book. Just admit it.'

'No, Paige. I was wrong. I was cruel to not answer. It's just… I was trying to think over the reason why I had been put into the role of the cowardly lion… And I realised why…' said Coop.

Paige was hardly paying attention. She was trying to walk slightly more ahead of Coop. She did not want to have a conversation with the man who had insulted her.

'Paige! Please! I need to confide in someone!' said Coop.

Paige stopped walking, so did Coop. 'Why don't you confide in your girlfriend then? She is right there and I think she would rather speak to you more than anyone else here!'

'No. She is the one person I cannot tell,' said Coop. 'She is the one person I cannot find the courage to tell…'

Paige looked at Coop, utterly puzzled. 'What are you going on about?'

'I think I have figured out why I was made the cowardly lion,' repeated Coop.

'You have already said that bit,' said Paige irritably, folding her arms.

Piper and Phoebe were still walking. They had not noticed that Paige and Coop had stopped. Therefore they were definitely out of earshot for what Coop was about to say.

'Paige, did Phoebe tell you that she and I were going on a date tonight?' asked Coop.

Paige shrugged. 'So what? The two of you are dating. Dates between couples are not exactly unheard of.'

Coop sighed. He looked like he was having trouble trying to find the right words.

'What is it?' asked Paige impatiently. Paige quickly looked away from Coop as she realised something about how she was acting. _Wait. Now I definitely am sounding heartless towards him, but he did basically insult me earlier, so I have every right to be annoyed at him right now… Don't I?_

'Paige…' said Coop.

Paige looked back over at Coop. He looked ready to speak.

'Tonight was going to be special, because I was finally going to ask Phoebe to… to…' Coop trailed off.

Paige's jaw dropped in surprise. She understood what he was getting at. He did not need to finish his sentence.

'You are a cupid. How can you be scared about asking Phoebe to marry you?' asked Paige. Paige was smiling now. This was great news. Phoebe was going to get engaged to Coop – even though Paige was currently annoyed at him, she knew that Phoebe and Coop made a great couple.

'Yes, but…' said Coop. 'I have never done this before… What if I get something wrong?'

'Coop, you won't… Well, at least… let's hope we get out of here before your scheduled dinner date… I don't suppose you have the ring on you, do you?' said Paige.

Coop looked at his outfit. 'I have no pockets. I had the ring in my pocket this morning. I better get that ring back after this!'

'Don't worry. You will,' said Paige, smiling.

Coop smiled weakly at Paige. 'I am really sorry about earlier…'

Paige shook her head. 'It is okay. I reacted a little harshly and you have every right to be scatterbrained right now.'

Phoebe had walked back over to Paige and Coop.

'Is everything okay?' asked Phoebe. 'Piper suddenly noticed you two were missing from our group.'

'I… I…' stuttered Coop.

'Coop and I were just settling our issues from earlier,' said Paige.

'Have you left my boyfriend in one piece after yelling at him then?' said Phoebe, smirking.

'Of course,' laughed Paige. 'Besides you two are very lucky to be together.'

Paige began to walk away from the two of them in an attempt to catch up with Piper. Phoebe and Coop took hands and followed.

When the four of them and Chris were finally walking side by side, Coop decided to ask, 'If Piper is Dorothy, does that make Chris..?' began Coop.

'Don't you dare make that connection,' snapped Piper quickly.

Phoebe laughed. 'You should really get out of the habit of upsetting my sisters. Besides, Chris is not Toto, he is a flying monkey.'

'Phoebe!' shouted Piper. At the same time, Piper was slightly glad that Phoebe had brought up the flying monkeys, because she had forgotten totally about those and although she could not remember when they came into the film, she knew that they were no good.

Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woman, and the Cowardly Lion continued to follow the yellow brick road. The green glow of the emerald city was soon visible in the far off horizon.


	6. Emerald City

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews for the previous chapter. This is probably the first chapter where things start to get a lot more serious (or confusing, or a bit of both) - well, towards the end of this chapter, anyway. Please read and review!

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**Chapter Six: Emerald City**

'So you say we are off to see the wizard?' asked Coop.

His question was accompanied by Phoebe and Paige gleefully humming the next line of the song. They were silenced by a glare from Piper.

'Yes, we are,' said Piper. 'I was told that Leo would have all the answers by Glinda-Paige. My guess is that Leo is the wizard.'

Coop frowned. 'I wish I could remember what happens next in the film.'

'Don't worry. We only seem to remember parts of the story just as they are about to happen,' said Piper. 'It's not just you.'

Coop nodded. 'So the flying monkeys part has already been?' asked Coop, gesturing at Chris.

Piper rolled her eyes. 'Phoebe _was_ joking about that part.'

'Oh. Sorry. So he is Toto then?' asked Coop, immediately wishing that he had not said a word when he received a scary glare from Piper.

The four of them stopped in awe of what was ahead of them. The yellow brick road came to an end. In front of them was a bridge that led to the Emerald City.

'Does anyone else think this bridge looks a lot like the Golden Gate Bridge, but miniaturized?' asked Coop as they walked across it.

The sisters did not pay any attention to his words. Slowly they entered the Emerald City, looking around the place, stunned by how amazing it appeared to be.

'Where do you think we will find the wizard?' asked Coop.

'In the Emerald Palace, of course,' said Phoebe, suddenly remembering that part of the film. 'Let's go.'

'If you start humming the 'We're off to see the Wizard' tune one more time…' Piper threatened, knowing that there was no use finishing her warning, because Phoebe was already humming it as she skipped towards the big emerald coloured palace that was in the centre of the city.

Piper sighed and followed Phoebe who was dragging Coop along. Paige followed too, lagging behind.

Phoebe knocked on the closed door when they reached the palace.

'Is it me or does the outside of this place look like the Emerald Supermarket in San Francisco?' Paige pointed out.

'I was thinking the same thing,' said Piper. _That's where Leo went grocery shopping this morning_.

As there had been no reply, Phoebe knocked on the door again, this time more forcefully. A slit in the door opened enough to see someone looking out.

'We are closed,' said the figure behind the door.

'Ugh. This is the part where they get refused admittance, isn't it?' said Piper. 'I always fast forward this part.'

Paige shook her head at Piper. 'This is the best film ever. Why would you fast forward through any of it?'

'This is your favourite film?' Phoebe questioned.

Paige nodded. 'It always makes me cry.'

Ignoring her sisters' digression, Piper muttered, 'Thank goodness this part of the film has returned to our memories.' She turned to the eyes at the door. 'Look, buddy! Let us in! You may as well! We came to see the wizard! I don't care whether you are open or not! Let us in!'

The slit in the door closed. The sounds of bolts being moved and slid across echoed around them. A few seconds later, the door opened – the man who had opened it was nowhere to be seen. Piper, Coop, Phoebe, and Paige, with Chris, made their way in.

'This _is_ the Emerald Supermarket,' said Piper, looking around at the shelves that were lined with everything from food to diapers to toasters.

'Does this mean we are home?' asked Phoebe, trying to take the big floppy hat off, but it would not budge.

Piper tried to take the ruby high heels off, but they still clung to her feet. Paige still had no sense of touch. Coop just shook his head.

'This world seems to be mixing things and places we know with the film,' said Coop. 'Piper, you said that there were leprechauns instead of Munchkins, right? And then that small footbridge looked similar to the Golden Gate Bridge, and now the Emerald Palace looks like the inside of the Emerald Supermarket… Whoever did this to us is mixing things and places we know with things and places from the film,' finished Coop.

'Since when did you know San Francisco that well?' asked Phoebe, looking at Coop.

Coop blushed. 'Well, I practically live there now, because of you.'

Piper began looking around for signs of any people. Piper looked upwards and shouted, 'Hello? Is anyone home?'

A voice erupted over the tannoy system: 'Who is it? This place is closed!'

'Do you recognise that voice?' Phoebe whispered. 'I do. It is a little hard to tell over the booming sound of the tannoy though.'

'It must be Leo. If the tannoy voice is the wizard, then it must be Leo. It sounds almost like Leo…' said Piper. 'Plus Glinda-Paige told me that Leo would have the answers and that my journey would lead me to him. He must be the wizard.'

Phoebe smiled. 'Oh, so it's _your_ journey now?'

Piper grinned. 'Well, I _am_ the main character,' she said, gesturing at her Dorothy costume.

'I said 'Who goes there?' Answer me,' said the voice over the tannoy system.

'No you didn't!' Phoebe shouted towards the ceiling. 'You said 'Who is it?' earlier!'

Piper looked at the ceiling and shouted, 'Leo? Is that you? Why don't you come and face us?'

When the voice refused to answer, Piper tugged Coop on the shoulder, getting his attention. She indicated for him to pass on the message to follow. Coop nodded. He tugged on Phoebe's shoulder for her to follow. Phoebe nodded. She turned to Paige. Paige was still staring at the ceiling, waiting for the tannoy voice to say something. Phoebe tugged Paige on the shoulder. Paige did not turn around. Phoebe tugged Paige on the shoulder again. Then she remembered Paige's predicament.

'We need to find where the source of the microphone is,' Phoebe whispered to Paige.

Paige turned to her sister and noticed that Piper and Coop, with Chris, were already down to the other side of the aisle. Paige nodded and walked hurriedly, but quietly, with Phoebe. They did not want the tannoy man – the wizard – to know that they were looking for him. However, it was clear that the tannoy man could see them, because the voice boomed again:

'Wait! Stay where you are! I know what you came here for!'

Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Coop, and Chris stopped. They all looked upwards, waiting for the wizard to continue.

'Pigtail girl: You want to go home!'

Piper let out a small laugh. 'You are right about that.'

The tannoy voice continued, 'And floppy hat girl: You want to be smarter!'

'Hey!' moaned Phoebe. 'Do I look like that much of an idiot?'

The tannoy voice continued, 'And you normally dressed girl: You want to be able to feel again!'

Paige sighed. 'I guess that is a nicer way of putting it than calling me heartless.'

'And you, boy with a mane of scruffy hair: You want courage!' concluded the tannoy voice.

'How do we get those things?' Phoebe shouted. 'All we want to do is finish this story, but we cannot remember what is next!'

'If you vanquish the Wicked Witch of the West for me… And bring proof back that you have done that, then I will reward you with what you require!' said the voice.

'It would have saved us a lot of trouble if we could have known that before heading here,' complained Piper.

'Well, at least we know what we have to do now,' said Paige. 'Let's go vanquish the Wicked Witch of the West.'

'Ding dong, the witch is de…' Phoebe began to sing, but stopped when she saw Paige shaking her head.

'That song was meant for the Wicked Witch of the East, who – according to Piper's manor parking abilities – is already dead,' Paige pointed out.

'I did not park the manor… It landed there… I still don't understand how an earthquake managed to move a house,' mumbled Piper.

'Well, we of all people know that magic is possible,' said Phoebe.

'I was more of referring to the fact that it is supposed to be a tornado in the film,' mumbled Piper.

'Are we going to keep talking about _Wizard of Oz_ trivia, or are we going to go and find this Wicked Witch of the West?' asked Coop.

Phoebe, Paige, and Coop began to make their way towards the supermarket exit. However, Piper did not move. Paige turned back to Piper.

'Piper, are you coming?' asked Paige.

Piper was clinging onto Chris. Piper looked unnerved. Phoebe had also turned back to see what was holding Piper and Paige up.

'Is everything okay, Piper?' asked Phoebe. 'You are not worried about attempting to vanquish evil while we are powerless, are you?'

Piper shook her head. 'Of course not. We have managed that on multiple occasions.'

'Then what's wrong?' asked Paige.

Piper hugged Chris closer to herself. 'I cannot take Chris along to a vanquish with me.'

Chris giggled. 'Fang-squish!' he said, repeating his mother.

'Piper, we have no choice. Whether you like it or not, Chris is Toto and I seem to remember that Toto went everywhere with Dorothy in the film,' said Paige, trying to put it as gently as possible.

'We have to follow the story,' Phoebe reaffirmed for Paige.

'And Piper, Chris won't get hurt. You know we would go to the end of the earth and back to protect our nephew,' said Paige on behalf of herself and Phoebe.

'I know. I just don't like putting him in the line of fire like this,' said Piper.

'You are not,' said Phoebe. 'Chris will be fine.'

Piper sighed. 'Okay.'

Phoebe and Paige both went to either side of Piper, linking arms with her. The three sisters, with Chris, walked side by side out of the Emerald Supermarket. They came to a stop next to Coop who was looking up and down the street.

'Do any of you actually know where the Wicked Witch of the West's castle is?' asked Coop.

'I don't know, but I think we should start heading that way,' said Paige, pointing in a direction where it seemed to be quite stormy even though it was currently bright sunlight above their heads.

Piper sighed. 'Why can't evil like sunny days?'

Phoebe laughed. 'We told you that you would moan as soon as night fell.'

'This is not night though. This is stormy weather,' moaned Piper.

Each of them took a deep breath before following the storm clouds.

They had been walking for a while now. The houses had disappeared. The land around them was barren and mountainous. They still had not found the castle they were looking for.

Piper slumped onto the floor. 'I need to sit down.'

'Piper, we need to keep going,' said Phoebe. 'I don't know whether time travels differently here to at home, but… Coop and I want to get back for our dinner date.'

Coop nodded in silent agreement.

'Yeah, and I need to speak to Henry,' said Paige.

Piper sighed, but did not speak. She had placed Chris on the floor next to her.

'So why did we stop?' asked Coop warily.

'Unlike the three of you, I have to walk around in high heels,' moaned Piper. 'It hurts.'

'Er, Piper, I have been wearing high heels all day too,' Paige pointed out.

'That's different, and not only because you can take them off,' said Piper irritably. 'It does not hurt you.'

Paige scowled. 'Piper! That is low! You know what! I have been letting your insults slide all day long, but this is it! I am taking no more!'

'What do you mean, Paige?' asked Piper, standing up to face her baby sister. 'Are you mad at me for being on Henry's side rather than yours?'

'That was pretty much straight to my point, but yeah! Yes I am!' shouted Paige. 'You are my big sister! You should stick up for me! You shouldn't turn around and pick my husband's side!'

'Hey! I side with whoever I think is right!' shouted Piper. 'Besides with all the fights we have had over the years, my husband has picked your side over mine the majority of the time!'

'Really? I hope we are still talking about picking sides in an argument, because I don't think I can ever see Leo as the same person again if you are referring to something else,' said Paige, slightly uncomfortably.

Piper rolled her eyes. 'Obviously I was talking about picking sides in an argument, Paige!'

'Er, Piper… Paige…' said Phoebe quietly.

'Not now!' Piper and Paige shouted at Phoebe simultaneously.

'But… But…' stammered Phoebe, looking up at the sky.

'Shut up, Phoebe!' Piper and Paige shouted again, as they returned to their quarrel.

Phoebe was staring at the swarm that was heading their way. What were they? They were not birds or bats, but they did have wings… _Flying monkeys_! Phoebe had picked Chris up off the ground. It was evident that Piper and Paige had not noticed one bit of what was going on.

'Why can you never side with me, Piper? Why not, huh? Am I wrong _that_ often?' shouted Paige.

'I do side with you, loads of times, Paige!' shouted Piper.

'Give me an example then! Come on! Name one time!' shouted Paige.

'I believed you about Cole being evil!' Piper pointed out.

'It took you months to come to that opinion though!' moaned Paige. 'Besides I wanted a more recent example!'

'You should have specified!' shouted Piper.

'Piper! Paige!' shrieked Phoebe. She followed this up by sticking two fingers in her mouth and letting out a shrill whistle. Rather adorably, Chris tried mimicking the action of whistling, but was not very successful.

Piper and Paige turned to Phoebe. 'What?' was the resounding reply from the eldest and youngest sisters.

'Get down!' shouted Phoebe, pointing above and behind them.

Piper and Paige looked around. Both of them ducked to the ground as four flying monkeys narrowly avoided hitting them.

'Flying monkeys? _Flying_ monkeys? This is the part with the flying monkeys?' shouted Piper.

'That is what happens in the film,' said Paige. 'The Wicked Witch of the West sends them to attack…'

'I hate that we can only remember this bit by bit!' moaned Piper.

Piper and Paige had both jumped to their feet again. Phoebe had her hands full with making sure that no flying monkeys got near Chris.

Phoebe got knocked off her feet by a swooping flying monkey, dropping Chris to the floor. Phoebe kicked at the flying monkey which would not get off her. Another flying monkey grabbed her floppy hat, and considering the hat was magically attached to Phoebe, the flying monkey began to drag Phoebe into the air, by holding the brim of her hat.

As Phoebe's feet left the ground, Phoebe managed to kick the first flying monkey off her. However, the second was still attached to her hat, dragging her higher into the air.

Phoebe tried to reach the monkey with her hands. She could not see it, because the floppy hat was shielding her vision of the monkey, but she knew it was there.

'Get off,' shrieked Phoebe.

Multiple flying monkeys were lunging at Coop now. They were biting him and scratching him. Coop tried thrashing around to get the flying monkeys off him.

Paige was still flinging stones at the flying monkeys that she could see. She suddenly found herself toppling backwards, landing on her back. There was a sniggering monkey on the floor. It had tripped her up without her noticing it was there. Luckily, Paige had not felt the pain of falling on her back. However, before she could get up, the sniggering monkey had grabbed her feet and was pulling her into the air as the monkey began to flap its wings for flight.

The monkey was dragging Paige into the air by her feet, so she was hanging upside down. Paige tried to kick at the flying monkey with her feet, but it was no use. The flying monkey was extremely strong and unfazed.

Meanwhile Piper had noticed that Chris was now alone and a flying monkey was walking across the ground towards him. Piper ran over to Chris. The flying monkey leapt out of the way. Piper scowled at the monkey as she picked Chris up.

Holding Chris tightly in her arms, Piper looked around to see how her sisters and Coop were faring. Piper was shocked to see Coop struggling to overcome around twenty flying monkeys that were all piling on top of him. Piper could not see Phoebe or Paige anywhere on the ground.

Piper looked up and saw one flying monkey dragging Phoebe upwards as it held onto her hat. Phoebe was swatting at her hat, trying to reach the monkey. Her attempts were unsuccessful.

Paige was also being dragged into the air by another flying monkey, except she was being dragged upwards upside down. The monkey had taken hold of her feet. Paige was desperately trying to kick at the flying monkey, but like Phoebe, she was being unsuccessful.

Piper's attention was suddenly distracted when she felt something grab each of her shoulders.

Two flying monkeys had grabbed Piper, by each shoulder, and were beginning to drag her into the air. Piper tried swatting at one of the monkeys with the hand that was not holding onto Chris, but it was no use. The two monkeys had not been fazed by Piper's unsuccessful escape attempts.

The two flying monkeys that held Piper flew further into the sky than the ones that held Phoebe and Paige. Soon Piper was being flown over many mountains – she was completely separated from her sisters and Coop now, who were nowhere within sight. Piper gave up attempting to get out of the flying monkeys' grips now that they were up so high. Chris was still in her hands. If she fell, so would he.

Piper had a feeling that the two monkeys were taking her to the Wicked Witch of the West's castle. This would not have been Piper's preferred method of transport, but at least she could now try and get the vanquish over and done with.

As they passed over the mountains, a flat rocky terrain became visible. On the rocky terrain sat the Wicked Witch of the West's castle, except… it was not a castle. Piper's jaw dropped in shock.

_It can't be,_ thought Piper. _I definitely don't remember leaving that here._

Beneath the grey stormy clouds, but above the barren rocky terrain sat Halliwell Manor.

The attic window was open and the monkeys flew Piper and Chris directly into the attic. They let go of Piper. As Piper and Chris landed on the wooden floorboards of the attic, Piper saw the crystals around her glow. She and Chris were trapped in a crystal cage.

_Great_, thought Piper, sarcastically.

Slowly and carefully, Piper got to her feet, making sure not to reach outside of the crystal cage. The attic was empty and the door was closed. The two flying monkeys had disappeared in a puff of smoke and no one else other than Piper and Chris were present. The attic sofa was to one side of the attic. The usual cabinets were placed around the attic too. Even the rug and the dollhouse replica of the manor were nearby. The Book of Shadows sat open on its stand. Piper could not see what page it was open to from where she stood, contained by the crystal cage.

Piper took Chris' hand to comfort him. She noticed that little Chris was smiling. Piper assumed that he had recognised the attic and thought that it was safe. Piper suddenly saw blue and white orbs surrounding herself and Chris – Chris was orbing them. He had orbed them out of the crystal cage so as they were free to roam the attic.

Piper hugged Chris. 'Okay, sweetie, I don't know how you have your powers when the rest of us don't, but I need you to orb out of here. Mummy wants to stay and have a look around, okay? Orb to safety. Maybe even see if you can find Daddy.'

Chris looked upset at what he had been asked to do, but he seemed to understand the orders. Taking one last look at Piper, he orbed out of the attic.

Suddenly Piper heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind the attic door.

_Looks like I am about to meet the Wicked Witch of the West_, thought Piper as the door swung open to reveal…

Piper could not quite believe who she was looking at. She rubbed her eyes, wondering if they were playing tricks on her. She blinked a few times, but the image of the person before her did not change. Piper was looking at… _Piper_. Another Piper had walked into the attic.


End file.
